CONTINENTAL SHELF (TUNISIA/LIBYAN ) Judgment of 24 February 1982

In its judgment in the Continental Shelf case between Tunisia and Libya, the Court declared the principles and rules of international law which are applicable to the delimitation of the areas of continental shelf appertaining respectively to Tunisia and Libya in the region concerned in the dispute.  It enumerated the relevant circumstances to be taken into account for the purpose of arriving at an equitable delimitation and specified the practical method to be used for the delimitation itself.

Turning to the Special Agreement between Tunisia and Libya by which the proceedings had been instituted (paras. 22-31), the Court recalled that under Article 1, paragraph 1, it had been requested to state "the principles and rules of international law" which might "be applied for the delimitation of the areas of the continental shelf" respectively appertaining to each of the two States, and had further been specifically called upon, in rendering its decision, to take account of the following three factors: (a)equitable principles; (b) the relevant circumstances which characterize the area; and (c) the new accepted trends in the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.Article 1, second paragraph, of the Special Agreement required the Court to "clarify the practical method for the application of these principles and rules . . . so as to enable the experts of the two countries to delimit these areas without difficulties". The Court was therefore not called upon itself to draw the actual delimitation line. The Parties were in disagreement as to the scope of the task entrusted to the Court by that text, but a careful analysis of the pleadings and arguments on the point led the Court to conclude that there was only a difference of emphasis as to the respective roles of the Court and of the experts.The Court then dealt with the question of the principles and rules of international law applicable to the delimitation (paras. 36-107), which it examined in the light of the Parties' arguments. After first setting forth some general considerations (paras. 36-44), it examined the role of the new accepted trends at the United Nations Third Conference on the Law of the Sea (paras. 45-50). The Court went on to consider the implications of equitable principles (paras. 69-71) and to review the various circumstances such including natural prolongation characterizing the area which were likely to be relevant for the purposes of the delimitation (paras. 72-107).

Source: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=330&code=tl&p1=3&p2=3&case=63&k=c4&p3=5